''Adelphobates galactonotus'' (splash-backed poison frog or splashback poison frog) is a species of

poison dart frog Poison dart frog (also known as dart-poison frog, poison frog or formerly known as poison arrow frog) is the common name of a group of frogs in the family Dendrobatidae which are native to tropical Central and South America. These species are ...

. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

to the rainforest of the southern

Amazon Basin The Amazon basin is the part of South America drained by the Amazon River and its tributary, tributaries. The Amazon drainage basin covers an area of about , or about 35.5 percent of the South American continent. It is located in the countries ...

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

Habitat

The frog's natural

habitat In ecology, habitat refers to the array of resources, biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species' habitat can be seen as the physical manifestation of its ...

s are tropical moist lowland

forest A forest is an ecosystem characterized by a dense ecological community, community of trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, ...

s, where it has been observed as high as 600 meters above sea level. It seems to prefer forest habitats with large numbers of

Brazil nut The Brazil nut (''Bertholletia excelsa'') is a South American tree in the family Lecythidaceae, and it is also the name of the tree's commercially harvested edible seeds. It is one of the largest and longest-lived trees in the Amazon rainforest. ...

trees. The eggs are laid on the ground. After the eggs hatch, the adult frogs carry the

tadpoles A tadpole or polliwog (also spelled pollywog) is the larval stage in the biological life cycle of an amphibian. Most tadpoles are fully aquatic, though some species of amphibians have tadpoles that are terrestrial. Tadpoles have some fish-li ...

to water. Scientists believe this may include water collected in Brazil nut husks. The frog's known range includes many protected areas.

Threats

The IUCN classifies this frog as least concern of extinction and notes that it has shown some tolerance to habitat disturbance. Though it remains widespread and locally common, it is threatened by

habitat loss Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss or habitat reduction) occurs when a natural habitat is no longer able to support its native species. The organisms once living there have either moved elsewhere, or are dead, leading to a decrease ...

and has already disappeared from some localities due to

deforestation Deforestation or forest clearance is the removal and destruction of a forest or stand of trees from land that is then converted to non-forest use. Deforestation can involve conversion of forest land to farms, ranches, or urban use. Ab ...

and flooding caused by hydroelectric

dam A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use, aqua ...

s. The species is relatively common in captivity and regularly bred, but the wild populations are still at risk from illegal collection.

Description

This relatively large poison dart frog has a snout-vent length of up to . The best known variants of this species are black below and yellow, orange or red above, but its color is extremely variable with some having whitish-

mint Mint or The Mint may refer to: Plants * Lamiaceae, the mint family ** ''Mentha'', the genus of plants commonly known as "mint" Coins and collectibles * Mint (facility), a facility for manufacturing coins * Mint condition, a state of like-new ...

or light blue upperparts, some having a mottled or spotted pattern above, and some being almost all whitish (popularly known as "moonshine" among captive frog keepers), yellow-orange or black. It has been speculated that some morphs were separate species, but genetic testing have revealed virtually no difference between them (including a distinctive variant from

Cristalino State Park The Cristalino State Park () is a state park in the state of Mato Grosso, Brazil. Location The Cristalino State Park is in the municipalities of Alta Floresta and Novo Mundo in the extreme north of Mato Grosso, between the Teles Pires river and ...

with a yellow-and-black netted pattern) and the distributions of the morphs do not follow a clear geographic pattern as expected if they were separate species. Scientists have cited this frog as an example while examining the causes of bright colors in poisonous frogs. One longstanding interpretation is that the bright colors are

aposematic Aposematism is the Advertising in biology, advertising by an animal, whether terrestrial or marine, to potential predation, predators that it is not worth attacking or eating. This unprofitability may consist of any defenses which make the pr ...

, warning predators that the frog will poison them if they attempt to eat it. However, studies of this species noted that the two color morphs, though visually very different, have largely the same poison profile. These scientists believe that the coloration may have more to do with conspecific recognition and sexual selection than with deterring predators.

References

External links

galactonotus Fauna of the Amazon Endemic frogs of Brazil Amphibians described in 1864 Taxa named by Franz Steindachner Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Dendrobatidae-stub